Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tokyo Photo Studio

Sandwiches! Hello!

I hope you aren't mad at me. I haven't been posting much lately :( BUT...the reason why is because I'm shooting my Japanese craft book at the moment! It's incredibly fun and sometimes (well, most of the time) I can't believe that this is all happening, but, it will be out next month and I hope you will enjoy it.

We did our third day of shooting today. It was a 12 hour shoot! I really love being on shoots. I feel really comfortable there. It reminds me of my 11 years at VOGUE and shooting for VOGUE Living with Gordo and Gem and it kind of feels like home, you know? But, I don't think I ever did 9 pages in 4 hours at VOGUE Living! That was a speed record today!

I am working with the most incredible team. There is always someone styling, shooting, ironing, packing, checking off cute Japanese excel spreadsheets (they print an 'Eigo version' for me! ha ha!)...
I'm learning some Japanese photo shoot words too like, DPS, deep etch, 3/4 shot, overhead shot, left hand page...the key word of the day was kiri nuki! Coffee on arrival, katsu for lunch and in house vending machine coffee cans in between.

There have been moments of 'lost in translation' where I've been trying to ask for bubble wrap but not known the Japanese word for it...a few embarrassing reenactments of me popping invisible bubble wrap, and then resorting to google images on my iphone, and finally our props made it to the shoot safely. Speaking of finally, I also learnt the word for finally. ha ha. We were so tired when we finished we said 'finally' and then laughed that finally in English in Japanese sounded similar. Naturally, the jokester Aussie in me launched into a rap...but in hindsight this was very un-Japanese and chotto hazukashi.

Another highlight of the day was me thinking I did a reasonably not too bad (I can't even speak English anymore) job chatting to my taxi driver all the way from Meguro to Shimokitazawa in Japanese, but then after my driver assuring me my Japanese was skillful, he noted 'I could understand your meaning'. a.k.a. You sounded terrible but I get what you were trying to say! Bless him. He was very sweet. I thanked him for putting up with my Japanese all the way home.

Below are some shots from the two beautiful studios we shot / and are shooting my book in (last shooting day is Wednesday). Aren't they so lovely. I want to live there! And the lovely Miyuki-chan at Commune Gallery also let us shoot in her gorgeous gallery last week. Thank you Miyuki-chan!

So, I hope you don't hate me for lack of posts lately, but I promise I will try to make it up to you with my new book next month. よろしくおねがいします。

P.S. Follow my instagram 'Hellosandwich' for some behind the scenes book shots.

so excited for you. cant wait to see the book progress! congratulations. the bubble wrap and rap moments from your shoot had me chuckling. you sound so cute. the studios both look incredible. my hands are up to live there, in either, with all that beautiful light. ooh wow! all the best for wednesday and another 'finally' moment x

Hello! I've just stumbled upon your photo blog and I love it! :) I have a photo blog of my own, so your photo blog is wonderful inspiration for me ^.^Ahhh how exciting! Can't wait for the book to come out! Those are some gorgeous pictures. The studio is really beautiful... <3

I can't help looking at those clinical white walls and imagine them decorated with interior MT tape designs by Miss Sandwich....now there's and idea......I can already see my little Sandwich friend having THE time of her life.

Wow, your pictures are beautiful and so inspiring. I just landed on your blog and I'm in love with everything you can do with MT tape. Looking forward to check out more of your posts. Happy Friday! towe.

Thank you for sharing such wonderful news and information. I heard about Tokyo photo studios before but I never thought of them to be so stunning! I am impressed. I love the photo with the stereo so much!Blessings :)

Hi! I have been interested in crafts and have been secretly collecting and trying to be creative for years. I now live in Fukuoka but my dream is to study the art and life of "Takehisa Yumeji" and share that with the world. I recently met a person who has done research about Yumeji over the years. We were able to talk for a while about how amazing the artist is. I remembered today that from a while back, I had been checking your blog and facebook but had clearly forgotten about it due to how busy I was at work. It's a really funny story but I had to quit my job in order to do "Yumeji" kenkyu. Which is the craziest thing ever! Anyway, I am going to be staying in Fukuoka for a while but will be visiting Tokyo quite frequently from now on. I was wondering what your future plans ( making a book or artworkshops...etc) and I hope we can keep in touch from now on and meet you someday! Love, Mai

About Me

Hello. I am Hello Sandwich. I am an Australian artist and graphic designer living in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. I love Japan, bento boxes, pantone 107.3 and metallic hologram foil, polka dots and plaid, Holbein gouache and fluoro pencils and I have a huge crush on Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugito. I would like to share with you some of the things that inspire me. I hope you will enjoy.